Monday, June 6, 2016

As a priest trying to live a holy life, I don't have a television. I do still play video games but only a little bit, a maximum of 30 mins a day while I eat breakfast and listen to some kind of Catholic Sermon like those by Sensus Fidelium on YouTube.

I use the Easycap to play a PS3 through my laptop using software called Honestech TVR 2.5.

I have now been ordained to the Sacred Priesthood for a year, and I have also just turned 30 years old, so I am now both a priest gamer and an "old gamer"!

It is amazing being a priest and offering Holy Mass each day.

In the last year since my ordination I have managed to play through Legend of Dragoon for the ps1. Maybe at somepoint I will write a review for it. Ultimately it felt like a major FFVII clone but with a few novel gameplay elements, sadly the game turned anti-God like the ff games it clones.

I have now moved on to Metal Gear Solid, I am nearly finished I think and have really enjoyed it!

What else?... On the side I have tales of Phantasia and also Phantasy star 4, I have basically been dissapointed with phantasy star 4, I was hoping for something with the same kind of life about it as FFVI an CT for the SNES but from about 10 hours playtime it seems very much town-dungeon-town-dungeon in a rather boring fashion. I don't think it even touches FFIV.

Monday, June 1, 2015

As generally a retro gamer, it has taken me a long time to get around to playing FFXIII, and I just completed it earlier this week. My younger brother finished this game back when it was first released and from conversations with him, as well as with other Catholics, I could see that the game had a lot in its plot and underlying philosophy that was worth thinking about in the light of Catholic truth.I've got to say I wasn't wild about a lot of the aspects of this game's gameplay- I lamented the loss of towns, NPCs, puzzles, and, overall, the presence of gameplay elements beyond fighting or watching cut-scenes! The game is clearly more ordered to a world that is dominated by FPS games and a lot of people enjoyed the movement of the series into new avenues. I thought the battle system was well crafted and whilst the crystarium system was a bit tedious to constantly update, it allowed for serious gamers to craft out clever strategies and characters with interesting stats. The upgrading of weapons and accessories worked fairly well, but it unfortunately made gil (money) farming through repeated battles a major necessity if you wanted to fully upgrade everything.

30 hours in the game and you can finally explore!

Anyway, my reviews aren't really on that kind of thing and I've probably written too much on those aspects of the game! What I really want to talk about is, can we see Christ in this game? Can we learn of Almighty God in a parable form? Do we find a worldview expounded by the characters that resembles a Christian philosophy? Does playing the game make me want to strive towards virtue and sacrifice? Do I fear hell and offending Almighty God, do I desire to pursue His will above all things? Let's have a look via the usual categories. Character and identitySo, here we are considering, does the game acknowledge the way in which character is formed by acts of the will, making him, as a result, either good or evil. We are also considering whether the game supports a worldview of 'vocation'- that each one of us has a certain 'telos' or end written into our souls an end we need to reach in order to fully flourish in this life and to reach the beatitude of heaven. For Christians we understand that this telos or vocation is a reflection of a particular attribute of Almighty God, which we are called to embody. Bound up in embodying this attribute of God will mean 'becoming who I was born to be'.

Final Fantasy XIII features a set of demi-gods who give characters a "focus". a mission they need to fulfill, in order to achieve eternal rest and, which if they fail, leads them to transform into a zombie-like creature.

Now, this whole focus business could have been a really interesting Christian parallel, a bit like being given a vocation by Almighty God. However, the game makes it clear that having a focus, a definite mission given by these demi-gods is a cruel form of slavery and that the paradise of completing the focus is really just being frozen in a crystalised stasis.

Of course, Crystalised Serah is completely naked (even though she had clothes on when she was changed into a crystal.)

The game therefore takes up as its main refrain "we are free, we have choice, we will not be bound by destiny or by a mission given to us by a higher power". Of course, in the case of XIII, the higher power is, in fact, in some way malevolent, but the refrain is seriously anti-Catholic in its tone. Certainly, we are uniquely endowed with freewill, but for humans free will only leads to flourishing when we use freedom in a way that accords with our fixed human nature and the fixed ultimate telos that God has given to each of us.

But perhaps underneath the focus that the demi-gods give the characters, they recognise a more fundamental vocation? In some sense that is true, they decide among themselves that they must save Cocoon, the world they inhabit, and rescue certain friends of theirs that have been 'enslaved' in the eternal rest of crystalisation, and in particular, a girl called Serah. But the problem is their mission to save Cocoon is depicted throughout as their choice, their defiance against destiny, the triumph of their free will over a quasi-divine order (even though in this case the divine order is malevolent). Hope Estheim seems to be the main voice of the game's philosophy throughout and it is he that cries out to the demi-god "We'll decide our own destiny".

Fang- anti feminine.

In terms of battle system, there are some positive elements for characterisation insofar as there are characters which are clearly ordered to one fighting style over another (basically like the job system in earlier ffs). However, it seemed to me slightly odd that two of the young female characters are physically the strongest, this contradicts the God given order of femininity. In RPGs female characters should ideally be most suited towards a healer/white mage/summoner role rather than the knight or sentinel. In some sense the game promotes therefore an anti-women ideology that opposes true femininity. The female lead character of Lightning is particularly cold and unfeeling, she is a little like a female Squall but without a Rinoa to soften her edges. In many ways she is an anti-woman, and another party member, Fang, is also very masculine in personality. Female characters are also generally depicted as dressed immodestly, so they are basically male personalities with immodestly revealing clothing and long hair. This situation isn't completely true as Vanille certainly has more feminine personality qualities, but then again we have a bizarre situation with Hope's parents where his mother has taken the role as a gun-wielding rebel while his dad seems to be 'mr. sensitive stay at home dad'. So, in sum, a lot of the characters present a distorted image of gender roles in a way which doesn't reflect the general reality of the created order established by Almighty God.

Reality of Objective Moral laws.

Does the game ultimately accept that there is a moral order and that if a character violates it he or she damages himself in some way? That's hard to say. The characters are certainly driven by the desire to do good, but what is the good for them? Hope says at one point "There's no way of knowing what's right. All we can do believe on ourselves....I might not make all the right choices. But as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, there's nothing regret." That seems to be the message of the game regarding moral laws- so long as you are the one who decides for yourself and you do so with the right intention, that's all that matters. Ultimately, we are dealing with a very shaky grounds for a morality here that brings everything back to a fuzy feeling and the sacrosanct nature of individual autonomy.

Snow the determined hero

The best lived out lesson in morality is in the part of the story when Hope attempts to kill Snow. In this section we see the silencing of Hope's conscience in a way that is clearly irrational and disordered, this is presented well for the audience and they are made to see how revenge is not the route to human flourishing and that hatred perverts an individual's character. Snow throughout wishes to protect Hope and even after Hope has tried to kill him remains a model of forgiveness and of being faithful to a vow he has made to keep him from harm.

Interior Struggle to pursue the good.

So, are the characters depicted as having to overcome evils within themselves and even to go against their own advantage in order to pursue what is fundamentally good for themselves and others? In one sense the characters are going through great difficulties in order to rescue Serah, this is most evident in Snow, who is perhaps the game's most traditionally heroic character. He clearly has a deep affection for his Fiance and when she is crystalised he is completely fixed on rescuing her, he protests to Lightning saying "Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be her's forever.I don't care how long I have to wait".(In an early cut-scene we watch Snow and Serah engaging in a mortal sin of a romantic kiss proper only to those who a married, so maybe that whole "don't care how long I have to wait" isn't completely literal, for Snow is already taking more than he has a right to under God's law.)

There is another instance which depicts the struggle to pursue the good even when it is not followed, this is in Vanille's continued struggle to reveal to Sazh how she was responsible in part for leading his son to be turned into a crystal. She doesn't own up but we catch a glimpse of the struggle. We see a triumph over the struggle when Sazh makes the choice not to take his own life in despair but to continue onwards to help others.

Divine Providence working through free will.FFXIII is a game which seriously opposes providence, fate, vocation and destiny with free will. The game repeats a refrain that there is no such thing as purpose, and no grand design, only free choice. A Christian philosophy would always show how evil destroys itself by it's own disordered choices, we don't really get this coming across in XIII. The Christian philosophy acknowledges that Almighty God can and does include miracles as a part of His providential unfolding of His plan for the universe, FFXIII mocks the concept of miracles, we hear Vanille saying "Miracles are things we make for ourselves", and again " Wishes can come true, but not if you wait for miracles".

Self Sacrifice for othersAs has already been mentioned, we get a glimpse in Snow of a character who is willing to sacrifice himself for others. The greatest point of self sacrifice is at the end of the game when Vanille and Fang allow themselves to complete their focus and begin to destory the world only so as to become crystal and preserve it from falling out of the sky and being utterly destroyed. Their self sacrifice however is lessened however given the fact that they aren't actually sacrificing their lives, they will be crystal for some time, but it is pretty obvious that in their case they will return to normal after some time. Even so, perhaps being held in crystal for a few hundred years isn't exactly fun!

This is where the game really scores badly, while it doesn't necessarily come across in the game, the lore around the game tells us that the universe the game exists in has a multiplicity of gods, and gods of the manner of ancient pagan deities that are at war with each other, that give birth, and that can be destroyed by humans! It should be obvious that a harmonious and law governed universe such as that which the characters of FFXIII inhabit doesn't reflect or support a polytheistic universe which, far from being harmonious, would be driven this way and that by the caprice of these conflicting deities.

The Primarch= The Pope= Bad Guy

The main bad guy of the game is the equivalent of the pope, the leader of the worship of the gods. We don't actually see any places of worship in the game or anyone actually engaging in worship of the gods, so what he actually does on a day to day basis isn't clear, what is clear though is the message religious authority= secret evil controlling despot. We don't get any glimpses of eternal life or eternal punishment in hell, which is deeply lamentable and so there is no sense in which wicked acts have eternally damaging consequences for their actors.

Conclusion

Final Fantasy XIII as an RPG is alright, the gameplay, for me, never reaches the battle and strategy heights of X, nor the side-quest and exploring heights of VII, nor the freedom of VI. The game seemed way too linear and the story, for all its philosophical flaws, was fundamentally dull and uninspiring.

As an embodiment of the Christian worldview it fails even more dramatically. In many ways the refrain is similar to that of X. I'm not sure which is more harmful to the faith, X is poisonous in it's de-construction of a religious and objectively moral society into a complete farce, vindicating freedom above morality. XIII makes similar points but comes at them from a different angle, with XIII there is an absolute glorification of a false understanding of human freedom cut off from human nature- as if humans could find fulfillment and flourishing by asserting themselves over the divine order, as if human free-will was the true source of what men of the past considered miracles.

X is certainly a better game and its story is told in a much more engaging manner, I think that probably makes it more dangerous. XIII never grips the player in the way that X does and never really makes the player reflect too much on his own life and world. So it isn't a great game, but in fact, from our standpoint, that might in fact be its saving grace.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

The gift of the Holy Spirit called the gift of knowledge is the gift by which our intellect is illuminated to find truths about God present in creation around us.

So it is the gift of knowledge that enables you, when you look at the vastness of the ocean, to think- wow! How great must God be to have made all this. Or again, you take a cold shower on a freezing cold morning and think to yourself, "my goodness, hell must be truly awful". Or again, you think of how much your mother loves you when she goes out of your way to pick you up from somewhere, and you realise, "My Lord and Saviour loves me to a degree miles greater than this".

Well it's entirely possible for us to see and appreciate aspects of Almighty God's plan of salvation when we play video games.

I think a lot of my posts on this blog are about this really.

Let's pray for the gift of knowledge when we play video games, that we will move from them to appreciate the eternal truths about God, and that way even playing games can help at our sanctification.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

There was an article not too long ago at Catholic Household entitled "What do 10 Priests say about Video Games". I can't say I was that surprised about the responses but I really think that most of their points were not that well thought through and were pretty fallacious. I thought I'd just list and respond to some of them.

1) Video Games absorb up your time and your life.
This could be said about any recreation- watching films, playing football, going running, building train spotting, painting, fishing, shooting. The point about all of these is the same- moderation. I personally think for a single man about an hour a day should be the limit. If you have a wife and children it should be less, more like 30 mins a day and really it should be the kind of thing some of your children can participate in in some way. St. Thomas Aquinas actually puts "play" or "recreation" as an necessary element of the virtuous life, no life should be without some recreation otherwise that individual becomes intolerable to live with.

2) Video Games are a form of alternate reality and entering an alternate reality is evil.
This is a weird argument that can be made about reading any novel, watching any film or participating in any drama production. I think that if within this alternate reality you play as a character whose role is to perform intrinsic evils (such as GTA5 or certain FPS games) then there could be a problem, but generally speaking it isn't the case. Certainly the idea that playing Zelda II for the NES or a car racing game on the PS4 are being sucked into another life where anything goes simply is ridiculous.

3) Video games are full of satanic influences and these are infectious.

Again, we are dealing with a tiny number of games that have satanic elements. I turned off the Persona IV for PS1 because I thought it was satanic. I think that possession and diabolic assault generally requires the viewer/participate to will the evil and to be open to diabolic influence, a Catholic who is going to regular confession and who turns off something that seems to be glorifying satanism would be perfectly safe.

4) Ultimately these games lead to mass shootings in schools.

There may be some links between teenagers in broken families playing endless hours of FPS games and games that reward vice like GTA and violent activities, or at least violent fantasies. The link is very very small though inasmuch as there have been very few of these mass shootings and yet millions of copies of these games sold. There is also a question of causality, perhaps messed up violent teenagers who had had really bad homes tend towards violent games as an outlet and perhaps in more extreme situations they choose to take real life violence as an outlet. So perhaps the real issue is with broken homes, poor parenting and ultimately a lack of relationship with the saviour Jesus Christ. Of course, even if we concede that there are a couple of game franchises that should be avoided insofar as they promote a vicious mentality this wouldn't rule out playing the vast majority of games that are, in moderation, either morally neutral or perhaps even morally good.

Not too long ago I started playing Legend of Zelda the Ocarina of Time by downloading it from the Virtual Console. I never owned an N64 as a boy so it has been interesting getting to know what all the fuss was about... more on that another time.

What I wanted to post was a link to an article by Chris Qu exploring how in the early Zelda games the world of Hyrule is Christian but that with the Ocarina of Time all of a sudden you get the religion of the three goddesses (who dress like prostitutes).

Nintendo made the decision in the mid 90s to move Link from being a kind of crusader knight character towards what we have today.

The article makes some really interesting observations, pointing out Christian artistic motifs in the early games as well as the fact that what is known in English versions as "spell book" is in Japanese referred to as "the bible".

My absolute favourite piece of evidence is the great promotional artwork for "A Link to the Past" which shows Link in prayer before our Blessed Lord. Note he ain't a protestant either.

Friday, May 1, 2015

As I prepare for my ordination to the sacred priesthood, I have been thinking a little bit and drawing some spiritual fruits from seeing priesthood as in some ways analogous to the role of the summoner in ffx.

The summoner is set aside from the people, is called from among them in order to represent the people and to offer a sacrifice for them. The summoner's life is for others, that is, the summoner literally performs a summon that will bring about a period of peace for the people but it will be at the expense of his life.

The Catholic priesthood is a sharing in the sacrificial priesthood of Jesus Christ, His work is extended through time and space.

Sharing in Christ's priesthood means sharing in His victimhood because Christ only saves humanity by being a priestly victim.

So the Catholic priest sets His life aside, is willing to offer his life as a sacrifice in order to enable Christ's redemptive work to reach more souls.

When the hands are laid in you, it is like a mortal blow, a death sentence, as it was for the lamb about to be sacrificed. I embrace it for the salvation of souls and out of love of Jesus Christ the one high priest.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A little while ago I played through Castlevania- Symphony of the Night which I bought from the Playstation Network.

The game is full of little secret areas, special items and optional bosses. In fact if you play through the game leisurely, and don't go out of your way to do more than is required you'll probably end up with "the easy ending"- like I did when I played through. When I got "the easy ending" I knew something wasn't right and I consulted a walkthrough guide online which revealed to me that I had missed out on SO MUCH in this game, but that if I wanted "the good ending" I would have to put in a lot more hours and a lot more effort.

The whole experience reminded me of the situation of mankind after the fall. The tragedy of Original Sin means that if we just go through life following the dictates of our flesh and what the world around us is suggesting we will end up with "the easy ending"- eternal damnation in the fires of hell. As a priest I know once said, "no one needs a manual to get to hell".

To get "the good ending", like in Castlevania, involves consulting the guidebook (the Church teaching and Sacred Scripture) or asking getting the advice from those who have already finished the game and achieved "the good ending" (the writings of the saints). "The good ending" requires effort, extra hours and much more discipline.

Most people will finish with the "easy ending" in difficult computer games, and in life Our Blessed Lord teaches it will be the same. "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easythat leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Strive to get the "good ending". Put in the effort, resist the devil, the world and the flesh. Remain faithful to the teachings of the Church, and cling to Christ Who is the way.

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"Among the wonderful technological discoveries which men of talent, especially in the present era, have made with God's help, the Church welcomes and promotes with special interest those which have a most direct relation to men's minds and which have uncovered new avenues of communicating most readily news, views and teachings of every sort. The most important of these inventions are those media which, such as the press, movies, radio, television and the like, can, of their very nature, reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society, and thus can rightly be called the media of social communication."

"The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men's entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God." - Inter Mirifica

While faithful Catholics have, on the whole, affirmed the exhortations in this Decree quite admirably (Catholic commentary on music, movies, and books abound), one particular entertainment medium has been, to the detriment of all, largely neglected: video games!

Catholic Video Gamers seeks to amend this conspicuous absence by offering an authentically Catholic response to the exceedingly popular and increasingly visible entertainment medium of video games. We seek to offer an avenue of communication for any and all interested Catholics - whether they be fellow gaming enthusiasts or completely unfamiliar with video games entirely - that a greater understanding of this entertainment and artistic medium, as well as the ways in which it relates to the Catholic faith, may emerge.

We also welcome input from gamers of all stripes, both those familiar and unfamiliar with Catholicism. This blog serves to engage them in the "Catholic" conversation about gaming, as well.

Above all, we aim to explore ways in which Catholics can find ways to utilize video games as both artistic and entertainment media, that they may be a new "instrument of peace" in the New Evangelization - the "spread and support of the Kingdom of God." Imploring the intercession of Mary and all the Saints in heaven, we ask that Christ, the Beginning and End of all things, aid us in accomplishing this task.

Prayer for Priests

"O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests; for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your young priests; for Your dying priests; for the souls of Your priests in purgatory. But above all I recommend to You the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way. O Jesus, keep them close to Your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen"